Weekend Early

Gary van Dyk

Gary van Dyk is a born-and-bred Capetonian. Raised in Diep River, his grandfather played a central role in encouraging his love for jazz.

“There was always music playing in the house,” recalls Gary. Other relatives, who lived in District Six, would pop in on the weekends when the family danced to ballroom music. Once that was done his grandfather would pull out his special jazz collection. Together Gary and ‘daddy’ Christy spent hours listening. When Gary was in school his grandfather gave him LP covers to read aloud. So a great love was born.

The 60-year-old’s career history is as varied as his taste in music.
Gary is a qualified electrician. He completed an apprenticeship at the Simon’s Town naval dockyards, before working for Tedelex and then freelancing for an Atlantis newspaper. Gary has since written for the Cape Herald, community newspapers and The Cape Argus.
He moved in behind the radio microphone over two decades ago, with no broadcast experience. Gary has hosted shows on FMR, what used to be P4, 702 and CapeTalk.